28 Comments

1. Lightnin' Hopkins:

“John, why don’t you pass the time by playing a little solitaire?”

Feb 9, 2008 - 9:44 am 2. DubiousD:

John McCain shares many political positions in common with George W. Bush. Yet while conservative threats to abandon Bush have ultimately proved to be, if you will, baseless, with McCain on the ballot we might actually a GOP walkout happen.

Why? Why has outrage against McCain been cranked all the way to eleven? Is it simply about issues? I don’t think so.

If illegal immigration alone could sever a GOP leader from the base, Ronald Reagan would be forever demonized for his amnesty legislation in the 80s.

Bush 41 broke a tax pledge and cut the size of our armed forces, two GOP no-nos, yet Republican historians have yet to hang the former President’s portrait alongside the likes of Benedict Arnold and Alger Hiss.

And Bush 43, of course, has pushed amnesty legislation, massive spending increases, etc., etc., yet despite his many political travails could still count on the base to back him when needed (November ‘04).

I think the real issue with McCain is his personality. Positions aside, agree or disagree, the man is arrogant, irascible, elitist, and sometimes downright vindictive when it comes to dealing with anyone and everyone who disagrees with him.

Think my honey vs. vinegar argument overstates the case? Consider this. The biggest Republican revolt during Bush’s presidency, bigger than even amnesty, was Dubai Ports. Never has one issue gone so nuclear so fast. And unlike, say, amnesty, the Dubai Ports deal is dead and will not return.

So what happened?

This is what happened: when the story first broke, Bush’s initial message to GOP leaders on Capitol Hill was basically, “This deal is going through. Nothing you say will make any difference. End of discussion.” And that bald arrogance, that “Screw you-I’m right” attitude did more to derail the ports deal than the efforts of a thousand so-called Davids (Savage, Malkin, et al) ever could.

Well, that attitude, so atypical of Bush, pretty much exemplifies McCain’s persona on a day-to-day basis. That, my friend, is the straw that’s broken the elephant’s back.

Yes, I know that many on the Right are passionate on the issues. The issues! The issues! But oppostion against McCain has mounted to the point where some are actually suggesting that a Hil-Billy presidency would be preferable. Obviously, this is an emotional argument, not a rational one. And nothing stirs up the old negative emotions faster than some cranky sourpuss telling you to screw yourself on a daily basis.

Because I consider the War on Terror to be of paramount importance, I will hold my nose come November and punch my ballot for McCain, and I have no patience for anyone on the Right who argues otherwise. But don’t fall into the trap of laying this mess entirely on the conservatove base. McCain’s been the one who’s been peeing in the Cherrios for many a decade, so don’t be surprised if everyone doesn’t want to “dig in”.

Feb 9, 2008 - 10:27 am 3. jaimeshawn:

Conservatives bolting the R party isn’t that OMG rare. We did it big time with Bush 1 vs Clinton 1, when we voted Perot…. Bill Clinton won that election with a whopping 40% of the vote, because the other 2/3 of the vote was spit between the Country Club Republican, and the Crazy Conservative Candidate. We split again for Dole and Clinton 1, because Dole is another one of those RINOs.

Feb 9, 2008 - 11:33 am 4. Godzilla:

Hannity was difficult to watch last night. I typically go into the kitchen when he and Colmes are on, and as I futz around making my dinner I put on Fox. It’s amazing that the tears of self-righteousness dripping from Hannity’s face didn’t start running down the screen. Principles! Principles! Am I supposed to just forget my principles, Hannity wined, and Juan Williams was more than happy to soothe his tortured, conflicted soul. It was like watching the moments before an animal becomes road kill, watching it run into the street and beg to be run over.

I have no direct access to Hannity, but if I did I’d tell him:

1. When faced with several politicians to vote for, and when NONE of them is an embodiment of your principles, then voting for the one who will do least harm to the country is NOT selling your principles out. You can only sell out your principles when one of the candidates DOES embody them and you DON’T vote for him.

2. Stop wining. It is unmanly and despicable.

3. If you think there is no difference between McCain and Clinton/Obama, then get psychological help.

4. Recuse yourself from your tv program for your own good…you are increasingly looking and sounding pathetic.

Feb 9, 2008 - 11:54 am 5. OregonGuy:

Dear Mr. Simon,

Love your writing. I’m here nearly every day. A fan.

In re, “McCain as MC”, no. Living in Oregon I see daily events unfold as those wonderful creatures who look out for us continue to impose rules to make our lives better. These creatures are the elected and unelected folks who people our various governments. My point is, while freedom is scarey, truth cannot be forced upon us. The daily intrusion of rules and law into both the simplest and most complex problems we face–individually and as a society–is not made better when rules are put in place to stop the debate over those rules. This is the crux of McCain-Feingold.

How can anyone support a candidate who would support overturning NYT v. Sullivan?

I, as of this writing, cannot.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Feb 9, 2008 - 1:08 pm 6. TerryeL:

I am beginning to think it would be better to just let the crybabies go.

John McCain has an approval rating among Republicans of about 71%. He is the only Republican that was in the running with an approval rating of over 50%. He got more votes from other Republicans than anyone else by far.

So if a mouthy minority wants to sit home and pout because democracy did not give them what they want, let them.

The idea that McCain is a socialists is crazy. He may be many things, but socialist is not one of them. So far as I know he did not even support the drug prescription plan.

What do they want to do? Just disregard the voters? They are sounding more and more like the Democrats who said Bush was not their president by God. Well, if they are all that upset, there is always Canada.

Feb 9, 2008 - 1:14 pm 7. TerryeL:

As far as McCain Feingold is concerned, it should be remembered that Bush signed that bill and Diane Feinstein and her good buddy Fred Thompson not only supported it, they wrote an amendment to it.

So puhlease, stop acting as if McCain Feingold is some sort of police state tactic that has sent people off the gulag. It was a well intentioned but largely ineffective attempt to deal with corruption in politics. It might have failed, but the Constitution survived and the melodrama attached to it is rather ridiculous considering the fact that most people’s lives have not been in any way effected by it.

Meanwhile we have soldiers getting shot at in a real war that most people seem to think of as nothing more than an inconvenience.

The silliness is just mindnumbing.

Feb 9, 2008 - 1:24 pm 8. Roger:

OregonGuy, thank you for your compliment, but,with all due respect, I think your politics are from Pluto. We are in a battle with Islamofascism, which seeks to overthrow Western Civilization with Sharia Law. To base your vote under that circumstance on McCain-Feingold – an attempt, misguided or not, to control the excessive influence of money in politics – is somewhere close to delusional. OregonGuy, I hope you don’t have any grandchildren because I wouldn’t want to be explaining to them your priorities here, should Western Civ lose this struggle (and if you look over to Europe, I wouldn’t be confident of our success).

Feb 9, 2008 - 1:51 pm 9. Godzilla:

TerryeL, I think many hard-core conservatives (which I don’t even think of as conservative anymore…I just don’t know what else to call them…the Conservanazis? the Consevasuidals? the Conservachrists? … just a joke! Not pointing these terms toward anyone here) but I think that many of them will eventually begin to think rationally.

I had my one anti-McCain moment as well, but it didn’t take long for reason to sink in. Using a metaphor, with a store for instance representing a building housing political candidates, with each candidate manning his/her booth of products, if it were the case that I could walk in and out of that store without buying anything, and never have to deal with any of the products, then that would be one thing. But what about a store in which you leave without buying something and where one of the sellers eventually comes rushing out and shoving products into your hands, telling you “By the way, here’s the bill.” I think this is an apt analogy. And the only rational way to deal with this sort of situation is to go into that store and buy a product that is less offensive than the rest of them. The concept of degree is a common enough abstraction that it shouldn’t tax anyone’s ability to understand how it applies to this situation. McCain = Clinton = Obama is not an identity, but is instead the equivalent of a child’s inability to grasp differentia…i.e. light green from a lighter shade of green…it’s just all green to the child.

Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee that we won’t end up with the worst of the products anyway, but going in and buying something on our own when we still have the chance is the most rational option that we’ve got, imo.

Feb 9, 2008 - 1:56 pm 10. chuck:

I just don’t know what else to call them…the Conservanazis? the Consevasuidals? the Conservachrists?

I think RINO would be an appropriate term. Or maybe Mavericks.

Feb 9, 2008 - 2:07 pm 11. TerryeL:

I checked out the Jules Crittenden piece and some of the commenters are just nuts.

I am tired of trying to be diplomatic. They aren’t. They don’t care. They are paranoid, hateful and totally incapable of grasping the fact that the voters have spoken.

They sound like the Democrats in 2000. We have been robbed!!!!

Gawd, and the accusations against McCain..well I think they neglected cannibal child molester puppy killer. But other than that there is no sin this man has not committed.

I wonder if they honestly believe that conservatives like Ted Olson, Fred Thompson, Rudy Giulliani, Governors Crist, Ridge, and Barbour, together with conservative Senators like Coburn would be supporting McCain if they thought he was a socialist/traitor?

Maybe the Republican party needs to cull some of these people anyway. No time like the present. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out honey.

Feb 9, 2008 - 2:26 pm 12. Roger:

“I wonder if they honestly believe that conservatives like Ted Olson, Fred Thompson, Rudy Giulliani, Governors Crist, Ridge, and Barbour, together with conservative Senators like Coburn would be supporting McCain if they thought he was a socialist/traitor?”

Not to mention Mitch McConnell and John Bolton!

Feb 9, 2008 - 2:44 pm 13. TerryeL:

Roger:

I also heard there was talk of Bolton for Secretary of State.

Heads would explode.

Feb 9, 2008 - 2:51 pm 14. TerryeL:

Godzilla:

Some people will come around, other people will bitch and moan and whine until Ronald Reagan returns from the dead and promises to put land mines on the Mexican border, make it a law to shoot an illegal every day, shut down the Department of Education, Social Security Administration and Medicare after he does away with all taxes and makes it ok to own your own nuclear devices and keep them in your basement.

Nothing else will please these people. They do not even want to be pleased.

Feb 9, 2008 - 2:57 pm 15. Webutante:

The fact that McCain can be an irascible, arrogant and sometimes vindictive S-O-B does not make me like him less. In fact, I think these very traits may be used to our advantage in the War of the Worlds with fundamental Islam.

Mr. bin Laden, I’d like you to meet the new Sourpuss of the Free World….priceless.

Feb 9, 2008 - 3:44 pm 16. David McKinnis:

DubiosD Said

-I think the real issue with McCain is his personality. Positions aside, agree or disagree, the man is arrogant, irascible, elitist, and sometimes downright vindictive when it comes to dealing with anyone and everyone who disagrees with him.-

Sounds like Andy Jackson to me. That would be like Firesign Theatre said in The Giant Rat Of Sumatra “A power so great, it can only be used for good or evil”

Feb 9, 2008 - 4:31 pm 17. Barry Dauphin:

I also heard there was talk of Bolton for Secretary of State.
Heads would explode.

Yeah, hopefully Kim Jong Il’s!

Feb 9, 2008 - 4:50 pm 18. dougf:

I have taken to proposing a McCain/Huckabee ticket for reasons I have outlined at PJM.

The bottom line:

It can win. It marginalizes what Terrye rightfully calls the ” paranoid, hateful and totally incapable of grasping the fact that the voters have spoken” faction of the current failing coaltion. It brings 2-1/2 out of 3 of the current coalition to the table and boots out the component that needs eventually to go anyway. They hate Huckabee even more than they hate McCain.

It might well have cross-over appeal in a big-time way. To win the McCain ticket has to reach out to the disaffected middle not the loony right.

Huckabee is not a backwoods loon. He was a Governor for 10 years. And he would be the most formidable campaigner possible in 2008. He would potentially rock the house.

Feb 9, 2008 - 4:53 pm 19. Paul:

McCain was not my choice for the nominee, but to vote for either Hillary or Obama is beyond irresponsible. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in the GWOT will be paid for in American blood and treasure, and to allow universal healthcare or other foolish entitlement programs to further wreck our economy and eat away at the principal of personal responsibility are not mistakes that can easily be corrected. The Democrats are set to do permanent damage to the nation and to allow them to do so in order to teach the Republican party a lesson is manifestly unpatriotic.

That being said one has to be from another galaxy to think we are in more danger of succumbing to sharia law than socialism. We will at worst have a terrible war with Islamists at some point due to the folly of a strategy of appeasement, but we will fight and win that war before we will submit to sharia, albeit at a dreadful cost. Socialism on the other hand is here already to a degree, and like the frog killed by slowly boiled water we will find our freedoms and American way of life dismembered bit by bit until we lose them all. The framers understood that tyranny was the end result of the increasing concentration of power in the central government, and that in a nutshell is what the left’s agenda is.

Marxists realized along time ago America could never be taken by direct confrontation or revolution and adjusted their strategy to demoralize us with propaganda aimed at eroding our confidence in our institutions. The rampant cynicism that permeates our citizenry, especially on the left, is a direct and intentional result of that campaign. The ubiquitous anti-Americanism within our own population is proof that the Marxist critique has been wildly successful. People who come here from former communist countries recognize it right away. We don’t, because it’s been such a gradual creeping transition in attitudes and belief that it appears normal.

Wake up people.

Feb 9, 2008 - 6:55 pm 20. Paul:

Since I’m just a “rightwing blowhard” to some of the thicker skulls here I suggest reading Dr. Sanity’s excellent post about the creeping cultural (Gramscian) Marxism in our society.

http://drsanity.blogspot.com/2008/02/real-agenda-of-fascist.html

Feb 9, 2008 - 7:09 pm 21. Paul:

Since I’m just a “rightwing blowhard” to some of the thicker skulls here I suggest reading Dr. Sanity’s excellent post about the creeping cultural (Gramscian) Marxism in our society.

http://drsanity.blogspot.com/2008/02/real-agenda-of-fascist.html

Feb 9, 2008 - 7:10 pm 22. Barrett:

I am no fan of McCain. The reasons have been articulated and beaten to death. When the horse is dead, get off!

I will hold my nose and vote for him if he gets the nomination and it looks like he will.

Perhaps the only thing that could stop me from doing so would be to put Huckleberry on the ticket.

The Huckster is a person of half thought out ideas and a statist who likes more government and higher taxes. He knows nothing about military intelligence or foreign policy. He is a snake oil salesman who makes up half of what he says as goes along.

Given that we have the highest likelihood of a sitting President dying in office, the ticket needs a fiscal conservative to mitigate that risk and bring the conservative coalition together.

Feb 9, 2008 - 9:00 pm 23. TerryeL:

Barrett:

Huckabee won in Kansas and LA, I do believe. That means Republicans voted for him, and most of them probably consider themselves fairly conservative. On Super Tuesday the analysts seemed genuinely surprised when he did so well in the South. They shouldn’t have been surprised. These people do not think of him as a socialist or a big government guy, they think of him as a man who shares their values. When he talks about God, country and the second amendment…they respond.

Of course the pundits do not like him, but they are not the ones voting in the caucuses and primaries. It would take a miracle for him to win, but he just keeps plugging along.

The problem the Republicans have is that they have within their party a group of people who are under the impression that they run things. They can not come up with winning candidates to support. They can not win in terms of general elections, but they work as a bloc and therefor they believe they should have a veto over the rest of the party’s candidates.

At the last minute they decided that Mitt Romney was their man. But it was too late, and more importantly the voters just did not take a shine to the man.

Besides, if he had won the primary he would probably would not won the general. His overall favorability rate was about 30. That is a high hill to climb. The conservatives would have blamed Bush. If he had somehow won and 120 days passed and he had not shipped all the illegals out of the country or whatever, the grumbling would have begun. In no time they would have been calling him Mexicali Mitt and demanding his impeachment.

And then they would blame Bush as well as Mitt and claim once again, that they have been betrayed.

And so on and so forth.

Feb 10, 2008 - 2:27 am 24. Godzilla:

Let’s see…(putting on my Ann Coulter thinking cap to ask it a question)…if we tell Democrats that voting for McCain will destroy the Republican Party, will they be stupid enough to believe it and vote for McCain?…(hmm…damn thing won’t answer…let’s turn the notch up to full power…drat, still no answer…set’s the Ann Coulter thinking cap down, then puts on the Sean Hannity thinking cap and asks the same question…damn, the darn think exploded!…got to pull out all stops…puts on the Maha Rushie nuclear thinking cap and asks the same question)…What? They aren’t stupid enough to belive that? But Maha Rushie didn’t you say…What? Ohhhh…you meant to say that they aren’t smart enough to realize that? That only YOU possess the keeness of insight to understand this…because of your talent on loan from Goddduhh!…I see, well thank you Maha Rushie!

Feb 10, 2008 - 9:51 am 25. OregonGuy:

Lol.

You said Pluto. You coulda picked the 7th planet…

Coach Jacobson offered this advice to me, way back in 1970. “Know what your going to replace a system with, before you tear down the current one.”

Winning the war against “…Islamofascism, which seeks to overthrow Western Civilization with Sharia Law” is critical. But is McCain our “Happy Warrior”?

Perhaps a return to Minnesota normal.

But, in the words of our current president, “I am the Decider”. (GW Bush, August 22, 2006) What framework for defending Western Civilization will serve as McCain’s template? As the temperature here, on Pluto, rises–due to MMGW–should I be concerned with the candidate’s views on limited government?

If the answer is no, then is Western Civilization defined as France? There are competing views on what we shall define as Western Civilization. From Pluto, we note the current problems facing our ally, Germany. Is the 600 lb. gorilla what Jeffrey Herf (University of Maryland, College Park) describes as reactionary modernism?

Or, are the human rights conditions of the Helsinki Accords or, the Euston Manifesto, simply anachronisms in a new “realpolitik”?

Disregarding the template for choice reduces the selection of our next president to mere preference of tastes. Why choose a blue dress when a red one will do as nicely?

We survived LBJ. We survived Jimmy Carter. We survived Clinton. We’ll survive Clinton II or Obama. But regardless of the battles we face and choose to fight, it’s the “other things” that advance or retard a nation. We’re not fighting for Western Civilization. We’re fighting for America. And the logistics dilemma from Pluto strains our capacity to serve as a useful ally. Granted.

Feb 10, 2008 - 11:50 am 26. davis,br:

Vote for McCain. He’s not the Hildobamabeast, intent on destroying the country.

Uh, yeah. That’s going to work as a unifying principle, to get the conservatives on board. Let alone the Dem’ crossovers. Dem’s, who are voting in their primaries about 2-1 over Republicans. Votes necessary to win if ALL the Party shows up. (Maybe someone should have been thinking about that “little” problem, eh?)

Or, how about the ever popular: I wish the conservatives would all just leave, we don’t need ‘em, contretemps “solution” suggestion? I guess that’s the heart-and-brain-ectomy surgery option? Y’all think the patient will survive the operation if you take out his heart and/or brain? Heh. Why am I not surprised.

Clue in here: the battle for the heart and soul of the Republican party goes back to the ’60’s. It defined the rise of Reaganism, and the ascendancy of conservatism. The current question remains: what does the Republican party stand for?

Hint: Machiavelli wouldn’t understand the answer.

…and apparently y’all don’t either. I’d suggest you try reading a little history. Does wonders to clear up the confusion.

Or hell. Maybe not. After your self-performed brain-ectomy, it’s not like there’s a lot left there to work with.

Feb 11, 2008 - 2:18 am 27. MarkD:

Stewart might be insane. The next president will be McCain or one of the Dems.

The one who will do the most damage to his cause is clearly the Democrat, so he thinks the thing to do is to help ensure the victory of the candidate who will harm his cause the most?

You can’t make this up. Insanity.

Oh, if we lose the war, he can just forget about the next election. There won’t be any more, or at least not any that mean anything.

Feb 11, 2008 - 10:50 am 28. Mikey:

“Mr. bin Laden, I’d like you to meet the new Sourpuss of the Free World….priceless.”

Our crazy guy is crazier than your crazy guy!

Seriously, I don’t mind the POTUS having a bit of a temper. Doesn’t seem to have hurt Harry Truman’s place in history.

Feb 12, 2008 - 1:05 pm

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